Walking Aimlessly
by Seena58
Summary: Mitsuko isn't your stereotypical wannabe Pokemon master. With no determination, she wanders, wondering what will happen. And it seems that trouble loves to stalk her. Leave it to loser villains, try hard rivals and insane traveling companions...
1. Prologue: With no chance at all

Disclaimers: Does not belong to me.

Notes: First go at a pokemon fanfiction; humor me.

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Prologue: With no chance at all

"Get out of there already!" shrieked Mitsuko needlessly as she threw a pillow – decorated with little tiny-what-was-suspisciously-but-not-exactly-Igglybuffs – at the back of someone's head as they scattered. It scored a direct hit and they staggered, before picking themselves up and running off once more. She fumed before stomping back into her room, not caring that her pillow was still out there; in the hands of the evil, evil darkness of night. Of course, if anyone wanted to actually take the thing, it would be rather amusing/pitiful.

Closing the door behind her, she ran a hand lightly through the raven-black with a single silver streak of hair which just reached her shoulders, and her bangs swept across her eyes, which were naturally brown, but was now a shade of electric purple due to the contacts. The pajamas she wore – midnight blue with one or two stars on the cuffs – were wrinkled and obviously too big for her to wear, but she didn't care. It wasn't like she was about to run out in public with them on.

But then again, she had just run out of the house to throw a pillow at her own brother, who had been acting the jerk again. He just couldn't seem to work out that she hated him asking questions all the time. 'How was mum' 'When's your birthday' 'What's up' were his usual sentence starters, and it annoyed the hell out of her. And that was saying quite a lot as her birthday was tomorrow… at least, if she could recall it correctly.

One would have thought she would be excited about the big 10 and all, as it meant a few more open doors in her choices, but she really couldn't care less. Blackthorn city had long since had its comings and going of trainers, many of them getting whipped and losing out, only to try again and – hopefully – end up victorious, and she honestly didn't want to go. Hell, being ten years old and going out to see the world was a shocker in many aspects.

They weren't even old enough, what had the people been thinking? Unlike most children her age, Mitsuko couldn't see the reason behind all the fussing and gnawing and the excitement; seeing the creatures day in and day out trying to chew on random people's faces soon wore off.

But no, it was her mother's decision to force her to go to New Bark Town tomorrow morning and get herself her first… pokemon. The idea had been in the making for nine long years already and now it was happening. Why parents seemed to love doing that she had no clue at all, and it was kind of… alarming.

The girl couldn't see the reason behind this, though, and she still couldn't see it now.

With a grumble, Mitsuko flopped onto her bed, grabbing her Oddish doll in the process. Squeezing it slightly, she watched as the puddle of moonlight on the floor moved in and out of focus as the large tree right outside her window swayed in the breeze.

She had been told by her mother to sleep early to start tomorrow at… let's say… five in the morning the next day. She was not looking forward to it at all. Hell, she should have made the journey a couple of weeks back, seeing that she had to travel quite a way to get to her destination.

Obvious truth was that she didn't want to go. Obvious fact was that she was going to be forced into it, and there was no stopping it. She didn't hate pokemon – thinking them as rather cute animals to poke at until they bit you – but training them and attempting to be the greatest master of them all?

Get real.

Never, in her whole nine – nearly ten – years of her life had she heard of a single trainer out there who had not been defeated at least once. Not even when they were past the league and all, they could still be defeated. It was a dog fight that would never end, never come to a conclusion, and she was going to be in the midst of it one day.

Big deal.

Pulling the blankets over her head and still clutching onto her Oddish doll, Mitsuko took out her contacts, put them away and tried to go to sleep, for tomorrow was going to be a long day…

---

Simple conclusion; I shouldn't be writing this. It's pretty much a side project from the other stories I'm working on, but depending on what the people round here think, I may write more. And update faster. So yeah, you have the power.


	2. Chapter One: Something you ain't

Disclaimers: Refer to prologue.

Notes: First go at a pokemon fanfiction; humor me.

---

Chapter One: The forcefulness of being something you ain't

Something in the back of her head told her that she should actually be up already or something similar to that, but she didn't feel like it. Not that that was a hard notion not to follow, as it was quite comfy and warm in her bed and the prospect of leaving it was horrible.

But it wasn't like she had much of a choice on that, either, as her mother came charging into her room without even knocking and was followed closely behind by her older brother. "Mitsuko! It's time to get up! Why did you have to go to sleep so late yesterday, girl?"

Mitsuko groaned in annoyance at this and mumbled right back, head in pillow; "Leave me 'lone…"

"Sorry sis, but you know the rules," her brother chortled, tugging at her blankets. Bad move.

Blindly groping, the girl managed to get a hand on her rather solid alarm clock and threw it at him without even looking. It hit him square on the head and he fell back with a yelp. Rubbing her eyes as she finally attempted to wake up, she scowled at both mother and son; despite the fact that they were family, she could not – and would not – forgive them for waking her up at such an ungodly hour.

"You have a long day today!" her mother reminded her sharply, waving a finger around, "And you know that you must get ready and leave as soon as possible! Oh, what would your father say?"

"Not much, remember?" muttered the black-haired girl as she tried to locate her brush and failed in doing so. Her father – her brother's father and mother's husband – had divorced from them five years ago and was currently residing in Goldenrod City without much of a thought for any of them. It wasn't that he was a bad father; just… highly misunderstood. And he hated the pokemon fetish almost as much as she did; thus came the radio's most unpopular show 'What's the point now?'. The funny part was that he had managed to make quite a small fortune with that show; how, no one knew.

They left her room and she grumbled to herself as she tried to make her hair free from tangles; a hard and tiring job without a brush, but no matter. At the foot of her bed sat the sort of clothes that she never wanted to wear in her life and, ignoring them, rolled out of bed and stumbled to the wardrobe in an attempt to find what she was looking for.

She grabbed her backpack and stuffed some extra clothes in them before adding her oddish doll and alarm clock and then, changing into a shirt, pants and parka before tugging shoes and socks on and leaving the room to get into the bathroom.

Wondering what else she would have to bring was a big problem and question for her, seeing as she would probably never come back her for as long as she lived and that… was sort of depressing. Sure the place annoyed her, but honestly.

So a couple of minutes later she tripped down the stairs, uttered words that made her mother reprimand her, and then finally managed to get into the kitchen without losing more than her dignity; if she had any, anyway.

Her brother smirked at her, "So what're you thinking, little sister?"

Again with the questions; she rolled her eyes, "Why the hell are you here, is one thing? But other than that, I just wanted to stay in bed. By the way, my alarm isn't broken, surprisingly; did you get brain damage from it then?"

"Shut up, Mitsu."

Sticking her tongue out in reply, she started on breakfast while her mother bustled around, chucking more stuff into her backpack all the while. What confused the girl was how she was going to be able to carry all that in the first place. Oh, the worries of it all. Then…

"Oh no! Where did it go?"

Now that her own mother was charging around the place, Mitsuko stifled a sigh and finished breakfast before standing by the door to watch her mother charge up and down the place like mad. Was she so desperate to get rid of her own child like that? Well, that was parents for you.

Half an hour later finally had her backpack organized and ready to go but the girl stared at it doubtfully. "How heavy is it?"

"Oh don't worry, you'll get used to it," her brother told her, patting her on the back. She stepped purposely on his foot before turning to other matters.

"And why do I have to go to New Bark Town anyway? It's too far away and it's dangerous. I mean, what!"

"It's just like that," her mother informed her before handing over something over, "And take this Pokegear. Call when you've made it safely across, okay? All the functions should be working." She kissed her daughter on the cheek and stepped back. "Take care now."

Mitsuko stared at her like she'd gone insane and then shrugged, stepping out of the house. Grabbing and straightening the bicycle that had been leaning on the fence, she turned to face her brother. "Why aren't you coming to help your dear little sis, hm, Taro?"

He scowled at her, "I'm here to challenge the gym leader, not to take care of you."

She raised an eyebrow at him, "And it took you five long years to get here. Good on you." Sarcasm wasn't her strongest of points but it was their way of showing affection to each other and she walked away, knowing that she was being watched but no longer caring.

The strongest emotion in her at this point and time was a sort of mixture between boredom and sulking; if either one was a true emotion. Not wanting to leave but being forced to really, really annoyed her as well, and now look what she was about to do. "I'm gonna be a pokemon master!" She snorted; that was so not going to happen.

"'Suko! Hey!"

At the sound of her name, she turned and watched as a girl two years younger than her stumbled over. "Arina… what are you doing here?"

The younger girl smiled slightly, "Just thought I'd say bye before you left forever and ever. Oh, and bro left early this morning as well." She added thoughtfully. Mitsuko blinked at this piece of information.

And then…

"So?"

"So?" Arina seemed indignant at this; a funny thing for an eight year old, "Don't you even care!"

So that was it… "Not in particular. Well, I better go before my mum tries to get me on my way with a frying pan." Without another word she sped off on her bike, leaving the child to pout to herself.

Bumpy and rocky roads were bad; riding them on a bike was worse. Of course, it was the fastest way to get down the large rocky trail of route whatever it was, not to mention that the wild pokemon tended to ignore freaks who were speeding past on two wheels.

But keeping the thing upright was another story and she had to put her entire focus on keeping it up than admiring the wonderful rocky cliffs that surrounded her; okay, so she wasn't missing all that much in the end.

The indignity of being where she was now without her consent pounded in her brain but she knew that there was no way for her to show it without being considered rude and selfish and all that usual stuff; so she had to hold it back and then explode unexpectedly one day.

These thoughts didn't stay long as her bike gave a sudden lurch and she shot forward with a yelp. Somehow managing to perform a summersault to avoid major injuries, she stumbled forwards, nearly unbalancing herself from the weight of her backpack. Really, what had her mother put in there?

Gasping for breath at the unexpectedness of it all, she glared at the rock that had stopped her ride's progress and approached it again, heaving it upright. She started when she heard a reedy voice behind her.

"New to all this, I believe?"

She turned around, suspicious the second her eyes fell on the old man who looked like he couldn't hurt a fly. "Yes, I am, as a matter of fact." And not at all excited about it either, she added to herself.

"Well, come with me; I can give you some handy hints on how to be the greatest master of them all--" the old man continued, but then noticed that she was already peddling off. "Hey!"

Ignoring the calls for her to come back, Mitsuko shook her head and continued on her way. It was slowly becoming less rocky and bumpy, but she still wasn't going to enjoy all this.

Well, unless she got eaten by a caterpie, it looked like the pokemon journey for her – which she didn't want to get involved with – was about to begin. Well, whoopdeedo and all.

If she had a flag that read 'sarcasm', she would have waved it around right now.

---

And thus the wheel turns.

chrnoskitty: I know, I'm surprised myself; as much as I used to love it and all, it just flopped out. Blame me for playing the old silver version again and stuff XD I would never forget my other stories because of this, but… god, I'm so slow… XO

marthawolfer: I haven't decided what she starts with (if she ever gets there :D) and we just need another wavelength for this :) Thanks.


	3. Chapter Two: What Villains?

Disclaimers: Refer to prologue.

Notes: First go at a pokemon fanfiction; humor me.

---

Chapter Two: So we're the villains; we rule (sarcasm intended)

Some few hours later resulted in Mitsuko getting lost and incredibly annoyed. Not that it wasn't all that hard to get lost in the first place; she was only ten, for crying out loud. And although it seemed that all other ten-year-olds had their own in-built map sensory junk, she was left to ten different trails and a hell-of-a-lot of evil looking bugs that she didn't want to have to face.

Hm… yes, today really wasn't her day. Why was it that they were being forced to do this in the youngest stages of their delicate life? She couldn't place it as to why, couldn't bother like hell, and had to swerve to avoid another rock that threatened to get in her way; of course, only that was possible if the rock could move, or it was a graveler or something.

And that wasn't the point and now she was talking to herself and attempting to keep herself company without going and insane and wasn't doing this meaning that she was insane?.!

The heroine-that-wasn't ended up taking a break a little after that, messing around with her new wristwatch that her mother had commanded she take. She didn't want it; it was too large and bulky and annoying… and it was missing a radio card. Too bad: any noise was better than what she was listening to now.

That being… well, what it seemed to be was three guys singing really off key and high on something that they shouldn't have at all.

Anyway, getting past all that, Mitsuko ended up finding New Bark Town two days later and wasn't in the best of moods, mainly because she wanted to have a bath and couldn't, not to mention going to the bathroom was a highly embarrassing affair. Yes, this life was just _so much better_; she rolled her eyes.

Entering the town, she wasn't all that surprised to see people running around and yelling stuff to each other, going on about 'theft' and the like. They never seemed to learn from their mistakes, and it also looked like the police hadn't been of any help at all.

Judging by the incredibly large building that was dumped right in the center of the town, it had to be the labs in which she was supposed to get her very first pokemon. Of course, if anyone had expected her to be excited and jumping for joy, they were sorely disappointed.

And she was annoyed with all the people crowding around the only entrance: all she wanted was to get here and back. And probably get herself some more supplies and the like, dammit. Not to mention her sleeping patterns were all but messed up now, thanks to the fact that she was not about to get any shut-eye with bugs crawling about. Although how getting a pokemon fit into that, she didn't know and was too lazy to care.

The blue-haired police officer was yelling at the crowd; "Please stand back! This is a crime scene! Everyone go back home and--"

Yes, yes, the usual problems and all that. It wasn't hard for Mitsuko – who had chained her bike someplace back – to slip by unnoticed, because there was only one police officer in the first place. And even as a ten-year-old she knew that it was very, very pathetic.

She stepped into the lab and was met with… and lot of white. White and all that usual junk one would find in a lab. It didn't take her long to find the crazy guy who was the nutty professor here and she poked him in the back.

"What?.!" He tripped off his swivel chair and collapsed in a heap.

Yup, really pathetic…

"I'm supposed to be here to get my first pokemon," she explained bluntly, watching as the nerd-professor-dude-thingy attempted to stand up again and regain some sense of dignity. Not that it helped much.

"Oh… right… actually… there's a problem… and how did you get in here in the first place?" he blinked, only remembering just then that this was, indeed, a crime scene and ten-year-olds weren't supposed to be in there, "Are you going to help with the problem?"

"… What?" Mitsuko frowned.

"It's just that… some people came in and stole our beginner pokemon!" he wailed, but she was unimpressed.

"That's nice to know," she turned away, "Well, I'll just go to the pokemon center until you get this all dealt with then, hm? Bye!"

Before he could say anything else – or plead his case – she had already walked off, grumbling under her breath about incompetent professors and police and the stupid world going insane.

---

For one reason or another, or maybe because she just thought too much and all in the end, she couldn't help but find it odd that the pokemon center not only healed pokemon, but allowed travelers and trainers to spend the night there, get free food, and all that junk. In all literal sense, didn't they need some form of income? And if they did, where the hell did they get it then?

Not that she should really be complaining about it, she admitted, as she locked the door to her room so that she couldn't be disturbed by running nurses and other trainers. From what she had heard, from them and other passer-bys, the 'bad guys' had gone off, 'infiltrated' the lab and got away with no problem at all.

Her theory on it was that they walked in, took them, and walked off. Because from what she'd just done not all that long ago, it was so pathetic that it wasn't funny.

And this was coming from a ten-year-old.

She flopped back onto the bed, dragging her bag with her and digging through it before unearthing a book. The room was clean enough, rather… sterilized… like all rooms in hospitals and stuff, and the air had been stuffy until she'd opened a window to breathe.

Read, read, read…

Damn stupid place.

Damn stupid age and 'fate'.

Dang… if only she could punch her brother in the face right now… that would teach him a lesson…

Her mental ranting was cut short by voices outside her room; and considering that she was located on the third floor was saying a lot as she could hear each word rather clearly.

"These pokemon aren't worth anything. Seriously!"

"But what are we supposed to give the boss?"

"Pika-pika-cough-hack-hack."

"Dammit, your pikachu is going to have to die one day; either by illness or by my own hand."

"I wouldn't advise it, Eimi…"

ZAP-- "OH SH--"

Blah, blah, blah. Didn't anyone ever shut up? Mitsuko sighed, sitting up as she crossed the room to the window. Shoving her head out and glancing down, she way two people crouching and talking rather loudly. Yup, very conspicuous.

As it was, she was planning to just close the window and go back to her mental ranting, but somehow managed to slip and fall all three stories down the building. And as fate would have it, she managed to avoid major injury as she both hit one of the two figures and a large bushy… bush-thingy. She cursed under her breath.

"OH F--" swore one of them, "WE'VE BEEN DISCOVERED!"

Sitting up in a vague daze, Mitsuko blinked at the two figures that had scrambled up and their pikachu, which was coughing pathetically. Assuming that they were wearing matching uniforms with a stupid, giant R splashed across them and all, and trying to look evil, it wasn't hard to wonder who the hell they were. And the fact remained that she didn't give a damn anyway.

The traditional boy-girl team, they seemed to have wonderful hair-colour sense; wow, pink and fluorescent yellow. And the other funny thing was that the boy had the long hair while the girl had short hair.

Yes, yes, whatever.

"WE ARE TEAM ROCKET!" boomed the girl.

"And we will… uhm… just hand over your money," the boy seemed worried for his partner's sanity and cast her a glance.

"Pika-pika-cough-cough-cough-hack-hack-hack-chu!" could rodents even cough up hair balls?

"PREPARE FOR TROUBLE!"

"And make it… whatever; that is so old."

"SHUT UP, IT'S OUR MOTTO!"

"But why do we need one? What's the point?"

"THERE'S PLENTY REASON! NOW CONTINUE!"

"Fine…" snort, "Make it double."

"TO PRO—where did she go?"

The two looked around curiously.

Mitsuko, having gotten bored with the spectacle, had walked off. And since the 'bad guys' had left pokeballs lying around – that had the New Bark Lab insignia etched in them – she just grabbed them to return. It wasn't about being great and good and the heroine; she just wanted to avoid getting a migraine from listening to the girl's booming voice.

Team Rocket? What kind of stupid, stupid name was that?

---

Power to randomness (lol). Mitsuko's not impressed, and for a 10-year-old, she thinks pretty weird, don't we all think? XD

marthawolfer: Well, she made it there in less than a week without breaking any bones XD Yeah, their attitude's are so alike… I can't wait… she's gonna give it a nickname… :P

chrnoskitty: Originality, insanity… I suppose they mean the same thing in the end. And thanks so much (hug) although it probably won't be as focused on pokemon than character complaints XD

Lee Totema: Thanks—

nattie: Thanks :) I believe there has to be one person out there in the pokemon world who doesn't see why they have to do it in the first place, and Mitsuko ended up as that person XD It's just going to go down hill from here…

Celtic Warrior: Nope, she doesn't like the idea at all XD It's a rather large twist, kinda odd :P Thanks for the review.


	4. Chapter Three: Thus quoteth angst

Disclaimers: Refer to prologue.

Notes: First go at a pokemon fanfiction; humor me.

---

Chapter Three: "I'm NOT a Hero!" – quote; Mitsuko

Trudging back to the lab took her longer than she thought, although it might have been just because she didn't really want to be there, but whatever. It was all part of the non-existent plot that had thrown her into this situation in the first place, and she wasn't all that happy about it.

Well, on the bright side, she got lots of exercise this way, whether she wanted it or not, and no one could complain about her not getting enough fresh air and exercise in the end. Then again, who was going to bother to complain about THAT?

No one, as far as she knew.

Looking about her, and being completely ignored by everyone, Mitsuko tried to plot her surroundings, failing miserably. Pouting to herself, the child tried to work out what she was supposed to do now, and then remembered that she was wearing her pokegear; the giant, heavy, bulky thing was actually a hard thing to forget in the first place, but she had. Oh yeah, she was supposed to call home sometime as well… or she could just pretend that she'd been eaten by a giant bear or something… that might work… if there had been bears…

Poking at it, she experimented with the keys, hoping that something of use would pop out and actually help her out of the mess she'd found herself in. Eventually, the screen lit up onto a map, although how it was so accurate (at least, that was what she was hoping for) she'd never know. A few minutes later she was able to relocate the lab.

It was night now, and the crowd that had been there that morning were gone, probably to eat or do whatever they were supposed to be doing rather than making a racket by the lab. Of course, that didn't stop the police offices from crowding around, but they seemed to be on a coffee break and didn't notice as she walked past them.

Yes, they really did need to bring up the standards of the police force in this area, that was for sure.

As she had guessed, the professor she had left behind in his own wailing despair was still in that position, although he had managed to get the chair back up and was sitting on it again. He wasn't paying her any attention until she dropped the three pokeballs right in front of his face.

This, of course, caused him to fall backwards again. How the swivel chair survived with such treatment, one could only guess.

"What… huh? Huh?.!" He spluttered, unable to string a group of words together to make a proper sentence.

Mitsuko couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at the older man. Like, he was old. Probably in his thirties, balding and… wait, why was she rambling about that to herself at this point of time? Bleh.

"I'm assuming that these," she waved a hand at the pokeballs rolling around on the table, "are property of the lab."

He scrambled up at this, ignoring the pitiful display of his chair on the floor, and stared at the pokeballs like they had dropped from the sky… and onto his head. Mitsuko was beginning to wish she'd done that to him instead.

"So?" she asked, inclining her head and waiting for him to stop ogling the three objects.

"Oh. Well, then," he coughed, standing up straight, "you must be that wonderful hero we've been hearing about!"

"Say… what?" She wasn't liking where this was going. It had a really bad feeling to it. "I just found them and returned them."

"But you smited those who stole it! … Didn't you?"

"No way! I'm ten years old, for crying out loud!"

"So you've never heard of the trainer known as Ash Ketchum?" the professor frowned at the blank look on her face, and he expanded on it, "He's a trainer who tends to stand around and help people who need it. A model pokemon trainer!"

Mitsuko blinked, "And I'm supposed to care?"

"Don't you have idols? People you admire for their training abilities?"

"None in particular…"

"Don't you want to help people and be known as the greatest champion of all?"

"Nope."

"… You are one very, very strange child."

"I'll take that as a compliment," scratching the back of her head, she looked down at the pokeballs, "anyway, I'm supposed to choose my first pokemon, so can we just get this over and done with?"

"Ah yes. Well, let's see if they're doing well," he allowed each pokemon out before turning back to her, "I'm Professor Elm, by the way. And you are…?"

"Mitsuko." She would have said 'pleased to meet you', but that was far from the truth.

"Right then, Mitsuko, we have the three basic pokemon here… hey! Get back here!" Elm ran across the lab in chase of Chikorita, who had decided that it didn't like being where it was and attempted to get out. "Anyway. You have fire, water and grass, as you can see… stop fighting!"

He waved his arms around wildly at this, but to no avail. The three pokemon clearly didn't respect him and hated each other with a will. Ah, the wonder of wild animal life forms and how their brains worked…

Totodile was attempted to drown Cyndaquil, who was trying to toast Chikorita, who was still trying to get out of the lab, and Elm had been caught in the middle of it all. Mitsuko, being the child she was, found this all pretty amusing.

"I have to admit they're pretty cute," she commented, before adding, "and highly energetic. Are they always like this?"

"… Stop… running… fighting…" mumbled the professor, paying her no attention.

"… Anyway," she looked over the three and pointed at each one in turn, "Tiny-looking dinosaur, potato shaped green thing, and… how would I describe you?" Mitsuko bent down to inspect Cyndaquil further, who ran behind her to avoid being sprayed by Totodile, which meant she was hit instead. With a sigh, she extracted a taser she had in her bag for some reason and walked over to poke the water pokemon.

Glancing down at the fainted creature, she blinked, looked at the taser, noticed that it was at full power, and shrugged.

"Well, I don't like water pokemon all that much anyway…" her eyes traveled over to where Elm was still struggling – wrestling, if you will – with Chikorita and decided in an instant that she didn't want that either… "Potato-body-head-thing."

So that left one last choice, "So, do you wanna be my pokemon or stay with the professor?" she asked Cyndaquil cheerfully, who nodded furiously. Apparently, anyone was better than Elm.

Mitsuko grinned, picking up the fire pokemon, "Welcome to the non-existent team, Flame!"

Elm glanced up at this, "So… you're the sort who gives pokemon odd nicknames…" Chikorita bashed him in the head.

"Hey, old man, it's either that or Sun Cancer. Both names are pretty good, now that I think about it," the ten-year-old replied huffily.

"I remember a trainer who used to give her pokemon odd names," the professor continued to muse, "She called her first pokemon Water Spout… and it was a Chicorita."

"… Okay…" Mitsuko was beginning to hope for a distraction, or at least an excuse to walk away already; the first of the two options was answered.

The wall on the far side of the lab blew up spectacularly and, surprise, surprise, the boy and girl from the previous chapter walked in, coughing as the dust filled their lungs. Their Pikachu, of course, was already coughing all the time, so that wasn't anything exciting or amazing.

"I told you! This isn't going to work Eimi!" the boy hacked, rubbing his eyes, "And I thought you were going to use the explosives later… so we could EAT!"

"WE CAN EAT LATER!" was the shrieked reply, "FOR NOW YOU!" She pointed at Mitsuko, "HAND BACK OUR STOLEN POKEMON!"

"… Why?"

"BECAUSE WE'RE AT LEAST FOUR YEARS OLDER THAN YOU AND WE CAN BEAT YOU UP!"

"Eimi…" groaned the boy, rolling his eyes, "I don't like beating up little kids… besides, what's the point? I just want dinner…"

"DAMN YOU CHESTER! CAN'T YOU THINK OF ANYTHING BESIDES YOUR STOMACH!"

"Yeah… the fact that I'm missing school for this."

"…" As Eimi blew up, Elm looked to be in a state of shock, Chikorita was STILL trying to get away (in which, the suspicion that, if it could talk in an understandable language, it was trying scream "save me!") and Cyndaquil, affectionately nicknamed Flame, didn't seem to care the least while Mitsuko tapped her foot against the floor, arms crossed, and waiting for something to happen.

"Pika-cough-hack-hack-choke-cough-cough-chu!"

And the Pikachu was still coughing pitifully. Sad, really.

"ANYWAY! WE SHALL HAVE YOUR POKEMON!" Eimi had clearly given up on yelling at her partner, and threw a pokeball in the air, which hit the ceiling before ricocheting against the wall, "GO ODDISH!"

"No fighting! Please!" Elm burst out, "This is a science lab and--"

Whatever else he was about to say was cut short as Mitsuko's Cyndaquil opened its mouth and a jet of fire shot out unexpectedly, frying everything in the process. The new trainer glanced down at it.

"Are you tired?" she asked.

"SMITED! SMOTED! AGAINST A MERE CHILD!" lamented Eimi, as she, her Oddish, the Pikachu and Chester were more or less hit by the flames. "WE SHALL BE BACK!" She threw down a smoke bomb that didn't work and they ran off.

Mitsuko had no idea on what had just happened, and decided that it was better not to ask. Elm was going on about the lab and heroes and whatever else a crazed bald guy could go on about, and she left the place.

"I will be so glad when I can get out of here…" she mumbled, Flame agreeing with her readily. Well, at least she had a pokemon that could burn the forest if it annoyed her too much.

She stretched as they made their way back to the pokemon center. "Ah man, I'm so tired and I still need to call home and… oh my freaking gosh! Is that a pokemon doll?.!"

As it seemed, childish tendencies never left at all.

---

And thus begin-eth the oddities. ;) Not to mention Mitsuko will eventually meet the pokemon trainer who has a tendency to give odd nicknames… XD So all that's left now is her 'rival'… :)

Celtic Warrior: Thanks XD

marthawolfer: She's a lucky person, one has to admit XP Yeah, I take my time… I think the main idea is to keep people guessing… or just wonder 'what the hell'… XD


	5. Chapter Four: Moving on, then

Disclaimers: Refer to prologue.

Notes: First go at a pokemon fanfiction; humor me.

---

Chapter Four: Because we've been here for way too long…

Having returned to the pokemon center - and making no attempt to explain how she had managed to leave without using either the front or back (what, there was a back?) exit – Mitsuko was not in the best of moods. Then again, she never seemed to stay in a good mood for too long, especially when it seemed to involve pokemon to a great extent that she just could not understand. Flame had returned to its pokeball sometime ago and she had tried to bargain with the shopkeeper about the pokemon doll (which she failed to reduce the price and had walked off in a huff) and she was now hungry, tired, and just plain sick of the fact that she would probably be doing this more times than necessary.

Either way, the next few hours consisted of the usual tasks normal people need to do to live, she walked off to pick up a couple of items before the shops closed (well, the signs did read 'open 24/7' but with only one shop keeper, the 10-year-old could only wonder if they were some sort of medication that kept them up 24/7) and then returned to collapse on the bed. Her mood had taken the wonderful plunge downhill during that time; why was everything so overpriced that it wasn't funny? What did they expect to gain from it? Who actually cared enough to answer the questions?

Mitsuko stared blankly at the ceiling, half-awake. She really didn't want to call home, mainly due to the fact that her mother would probably bombard her with questions and missions of conquest to become the greatest master of them all… as a child, she just didn't get why everyone was so hyped up with the prospect. Even if they did get the highest ranking of master, where did you go from there?

That's right; straight downhill for a certain enthusiastic trainer. When one became the top, there would always be another stronger to steal their place, and then the cycle would continue with everyone battling everyone else and nothing would end. It was annoying, it was dull, it was repetitive. It was what was expected from children who became trainers.

And that was her exact reason for not wanting to leave home in the first place. As far as she could tell at the very moment, the one good thing that came out of becoming a trainer was that she had a plausible reason to no longer attend school. Or… was a trainer merely the result of education never going past the fourth grade?

"It's a conspiracy!" she jerked up as the realisation hit her, but then flopped back upon the decision that it didn't matter either way. Because she was stuck here and there was nothing she could do about it now.

It was only then did it come to mind for her to check the time; rolling over to the edge of the bed where her bag was located, she shuffled through the contents until she came across her alarm clock. Shifting it around until it was illuminated by the moonlight outside, she stared at it, wondering if it was broken.

3:42am

How had the time gone so quickly?

Those were the last of her (uncensored) thoughts as she removed her contacts (in all honesty, she'd almost forgotten she'd had those on), muttered some curses under her breath, and then tried to go to sleep.

---

Next morning was greeted with the cheery chime of an alarm clock, and then the possible sound of said alarm clock being smashed against the wall as the person woke up on the wrong side of the bed.

In this case, the wall ended up with the worse side of the deal.

Rubbing her eyes and muttering to herself, Mitsuko's focus zoned in and out for a moment before it returned to its wonderful fuzziness of short-sightedness, and then replaced her contacts. As the room came into focus, she noted the fact that the wall now had a clock-shaped dent in it, the rubble still spilling out of the… er… wall.

When she finally decided to check on the damage her clock had gathered from the attack, she was pleased to be informed that it was still in good condition and that the wall had done nothing to scratch it. Of course, the consequences of destroying property that was not one's own…

With a nervous laugh, Mitsuko stuffed the offending item back into her bag and bounced off to the bathroom to change and prepare for another day. She wasn't necessarily happy about another day she had to plough through, but at least she knew that no one had attacked her while she'd been sleeping. So unless this was just one painful dream and she was really dead or something, there was nothing for her to complain about.

It wasn't like she was a bitter girl in the first place, but all her life she'd been expected to follow in the footsteps of her older brother, but she definitely held the qualities of her father, and with her mother practically controlling her life, there was no way out for her. So with this little fact in her mind, she would just have to make do with it and hope that one day the massive love of training pointlessly would simmer down and she could do whatever she wanted.

… whatever that actually was.

Well, she had a good thirty or forty or so years to think about it, if she really wanted to. Man, was she going to be old by then.

After breakfast, making an excuse to the nurse about what happened to her room, and leaving the center as fast as possible before the truth came out, our dear protagonist took a good two hours to relocate her bicycle (because the police decided to move it for reasons unknown) and was pedaling out of New Bark Town as fast as she could. She didn't get very far because of the small fact on contacting her mother, but she was still trying to find reasons as to why she shouldn't even attempt to do such a thing.

She jabbed pointlessly at her pokegear for a moment before it began to make a numerous amount of beeping noises she was pretty sure was _not_ supposed to happen. She frowned at it and continued to poke it some more before giving up and throwing it against a small bush, which, sadly, contained some bug-pokemon-related-something-or-others and she was forced to move away.

It was only when she was nearly out of breath, cursing to herself and only being held up by the help of her trusty bike that she noticed that something had happened to her pokegear; besides not being smashed to pieces, anyway. Besides from being completely unscathed, scarily enough, there was _talking_.

"_Hello? Mitsuko! What are you doing? Answer me!"_

She blinked, held up the item slowly – almost warily – and then spoke to it, while feeling incredibly stupid. "Er… mum? Hi."

What happened next was nothing short of an explosion and Mitsuko was forced to hold the pokegear as far away from her ear as possible while her mother ranted on about one thing or another, as well as reprimanding her for not calling anytime sooner. Seeing as it would take a while before she calmed down, Mitsuko took a seat, allowed her bicycle to fall to the ground with a dull thump, and wait for her mother to finally calm down.

Some half-hour later she was finally able to explain her situation, the fact that she had, indeed, received her first pokemon (and had to cover her ears again from her mother's squeal of approval), and was on her way to the next town. At least, that was supposed to be the case, if Mitsuko hadn't been positive about being lost again. She really wasn't looking forward to camping out anyway.

A brief break and then she was back on the… pathway to who knew where. Part of her was really dreading it, or maybe it had something to do with the fact that she was doomed to this sort of lifestyle for a long, long time…

---

A good few hours later, more grumbling about being lost, and unable to find out which way she was supposed to go… not to mention the fact that the trainers she did run into (that being only about two or three of them) had tried to do battle against her, got fried or she left them behind, and still had no idea on which direction she was now supposed to go.

So all in all, it had been quite an… eventful day for Mitsuko; quite negative, though, but still very eventful. She still dreaded the idea of camping out and ended up asking Flame to keep watch in case some evil looking bug pokemon tried to attack her during the night. Seeing as all it had really done that day was sleep in its pokeball, Flame agreed readily; at least, that was what she suspected. One could never tell with these creatures.

Needless to say, the day could not have ended on any other note than the appearance of the dear… as they called themselves… 'villains'. Annoyances in Mitsuko's case. And… random acquaintance for the confused Cyndaquil, but that was not the point.

"AHA! WE'VE FINALLY FOUND YOU ONCE MORE!" boomed the voice, forcing a couple of startled Pidgeys and Hoot-Hoots out of the trees above them with angry squawks. The leaves rattled as they shot out, but the voice started the traditional 'evil laugh of doom'.

"Uhm… Eimi, as much as I know that you love to talk and laugh in a loud voice," started Chester in the background from wherever they were located, "this is why we never get anywhere when it comes to petty crimes."

"Pika-pika-cough-cough-hack-hack-" agreed their should-be-but-isn't-dead Pikachu.

"SHUT UP! I'M HAVING MY FIVE MINUTES OF FAME HERE!"

"Er… fame? Maybe we should take you to your psychiatrist like we were asked to."

"I DON'T NEED NO -BLEEP-ING PSYCHIATRIST!"

"…"

"Pika-hack-hack-cough-hack-chu!"

"MAKE THAT DAMN THING SHUT UP ALREADY!"

Mitsuko poked her head out of the tent she had constructed some time earlier and sighed; "Why, of all the times, do the weirdos have to come and bug me already?"

"Cynda," piped up Flame. She inclined her head thoughtfully.

"Assuming that you're asking permission to fry them, as much as I'd like that to happen for some peace and quiet, you'll probably burn down the whole forest and we'd be charged for… uhm… flora slaughter."

Her patience was already wearing thing, though, and hearing that Eimi was not about to shut up anytime soon, she snapped. "Okay Flame, fire away."

She stuck her head back into the tent and listened to the sounds of fire being emitted from her pokemon, and the side-effects it had when used against the so-called 'Team Rocket'.

"WHAT THE--?.!"

The string of curses that followed as they retreated finally faded off and silence replaced the annoying tone of voices or whatever that had been keeping Mitsuko awake. Face buried in her sleeping bag, her voice – directed to no one – was muffled.

"If tomorrow ends up as bad as this, I'm going to have to kill something soon…"

If pokemon could snigger out loud, her Cyndaquil would have been doing just that.

---

Bleargh… I haven't written anything for (what feels like) so long that I think I might have just gotten that much worse. Mitsuko needs to keep going on so that she can actually _get _somewhere, but I don't know how long that's going to take. At the rate she's going, she'll never reach the first town. At least, not in one piece. (sweat drop) Either way, she shall overcome! (pumps fist in the air) And now she has her own personal body/poke-guard XD Ugh… I've run out of things to say…

Oh yeah, apologies for the long wait (lol, how many people were actually waiting? XD) and I'm hoping to continue this. If not just for the pure what-the-hell factor, then for the other crazy people who will become Mitsuko's comrades-or-something-teammates(?). That's where the _real_ insanity begins :) (And as an extra useless fact, I'd actually almost forgotten that Mitsuko actually wore contacts. Who would have thought?)

Celtic Warrior: Thanks :) (hugs) Isn't she the most interesting character to analyse closely? XD Let's watch her 'grow and mature' over the hardships of pokemon training! Yeah! (From now on, I will do my best to stay inspired/motivated enough to _not_ have a large seven-month-gap between it all. (gasps) It's been that long! (sob))

marthawolfer: Hm… an Ash-heroism-clone, eh? (sniggers at the thought). He's probably going to end up like that, or a Gary-like-I'm-the-best-watch-my-ego-grow! XD Ah, the possibilities (perhaps a mix of both?). Part of me really wants Mitsuko to run into Ash and co. at least once during her travels to see the clash in opinions XD


	6. Chapter Five: Strangers are Evil

Disclaimers: Does not belong to me.

Notes: First go at a pokemon fanfiction; humor me.

---

Chapter Five: Never trust a stranger (trust us; they're evil beyond all comparison)

Three days later and Mitsuko was definitely not in the happiest of moods to be in. This was not, by any fault of the child herself (aside from the fact that she had been suspicious of being direction-deprived for a long time now), but the fact that everything looked the same to her. One could not expect to know where to go when all they had in terms of landmarks were trees, bushes, and other plant-related items (otherwise known as vegetation).

Of course there was a road that told them where to go, but only as long as they went in the right direction. There were two ways to go. Since she didn't want to go back to New Bark Town (sure that the other remaining starter pokemon were wrecking havoc there, if not having already taken over the place), she went the other way.

The most interesting decision Mitsuko had been forced to make during this three-day trip, of course, was her wondering if it was possible to eat a Pidgey for breakfast. This was, by no means, supporting cruelty towards pokemon, but the very fact of nature and, well, they were food, right?

Of course, she had yet to see one pokemon eat another; a small disappointment for the girl, but she was sure it would happen one day.

So her journey now seemed to consist of the following: walk, walk, run into trainer, walk some more, more annoying trainers, run people over by bike when the likelihood of losing came into existence (and it wasn't like she could afford to lose her money anyway), run into crazy bug pokemon and a couple of other related things both day and night, and then having fun watching Flame burning poor, innocent flora.

The fourth morning – peaceful as it was – did not last very long as an outburst caused a number of flying pokemon to scatter indignantly.

"I CAN'T BELIEVE THIS!" scrambling out of her tent indignantly, she threw her alarm clock at the nearest tree, which was two feet away from where she had set up for the night. It hit the trunk with a thud as she sat down heavily, blinking. "Ah… I can't see anything."

Returning to her tent, and ignoring the angry squawking that came from the tree she had attacked, Mitsuko scrambled about to prepare for another long, pointless day. It took her less than half an hour to find her contacts, change and repack her tent, but then she was forced to spend about an hour trying to work out what she was supposed to eat for breakfast, make sure her bike was working properly, and that Flame hadn't died off on her.

Once she managed to pull herself out of that little scenario (which seemed to involve the burning of a Caterpie, but whatever) she was forced to move on, because if she didn't, she might as well admit insanity and go to an asylum… if they existed. And there was no way she was about to call her mother for help (one time had been more than enough, and she had no intention of calling until a month or eight had passed).

"I am… here," she mumbled to herself, referring to her in-built map while straightening her bicycle, "and… the next town is… there. And that's…"

Mitsuko stopped herself before she hit her head against the handles of her only means of efficient movement, "I can't believe this…"

She was beginning to realise the worst part of being forced out of home at the age of ten was that the trainer-to-be soon became people-deprived. It was little wonder the strongest pokemon master became that way; being lonely affected people differently and that… she already knew she wasn't going to end up like that, and she pushed the thought away.

Swinging onto the bicycle, Mitsuko made one last check that she hadn't left anything important behind, and then pedaled off as fast as possible. This meant just avoiding the running over of a random ground-dwelling pokemon, and seeing if she was capable of ramming into a tree at about a million miles per hour.

Seeing as no one was capable of getting to such high speeds on a bicycle (of all things) Mitsuko never managed to get to the ramming-into-tree part of the ride.

A few hours later and the raven-haired girl was feeling very proud of herself. Not only had she scared a couple of enthusiastic pokemon trainers by nearly running into (and over) them, she had avoided the unnatural want of people battling each other and against her. She could never understand as to why anyone in their right mind would endorse violence against pokemon be a right form of character building and a part of life.

While she wondered over this (as well as the mere concept of human nature in all its strange and obscene forms), she decided a break for the time being was best. And she was horribly lonely; even talking to Flame would prove more interesting than a whole lot of vegetation as such. The fire pokemon seemed relieved to be allowed to roam around free, and did just that, taking a bite out of a Catepie while it was at it.

Mitsuko leaned back against the trunk of a one of many trees, contemplating where the hell her life was going for about the billionth time since she had begun to dread the coming of her tenth birthday. The mother had been _so_ enthusiastic when she had turned eight, screaming something awful that went along the line of 'two more years. Two more years, etc' and preparing for just that.

Something about a mother forcing her daughter to learn life-surviving skills at the age of eight had to be insane. Then again, she was sure she'd been better off than her brother; who had nearly been gnawed to death by a Rattata on his first real journey.

Her thoughts were abruptly interrupted by an unfamiliar voice close by.

"So, a new trainer then, hm?"

She opened one eye and replied coolly, "Oh, you can suddenly tell by just looking?"

The other stepped closer, and she opened both eyes properly, using her arms to push herself up in a properly seated position. "Yeah. How many experienced pokemon trainers allow their pokemon to run around freely like that?" he pointed at Flame, who was having the time of its life.

Mitsuko could only raise an eyebrow, "Is there something wrong with allowing pokemon out of their pokeballs without the need to maim another one in the process?"

"A little touchy, aren't you?" he smirked; not a good sign.

"And I suppose you care?" she stood up, waving over to her Cyndaquil, who came instantly, and swung back onto her bike. He held his hands up at her.

"Hey, come on, don't be so grouchy. You looked a little lost and I'd thought I'd help. It isn't that big a crime, is it?"

Flame snorted. It could be interpreted in many ways to what it was probably thinking at the very moment. Either way, it was clearly unimpressed by the events folding out before them. Its trainer fully agreed before using the dreaded pokeball of doom and pocketing it.

"And you've been training… how long?" Mitsuko asked in a not-so-interested voice, leaning over her handles, bored out of her mind.

"Six years. I have seniority." He actually sounded _proud_ of it.

"Hrm… right. But my father always did tell me never to trust strangers," she nodded, smiling innocently, before shoving her foot on the pedal and coming close enough to slam into the guy. He gave a yelp, toppled over (winded or shocked, either way) and was most likely to be eaten by a couple of Caterpies in the coming hours.

A blur of green and brown met her view as she sped on. Well, that was one of the few things that would keep her happy; the adrenaline pumping through her veins as she continued to a destination she didn't even want to arrive at, and the dreaded fate of trainer to spend their whole life on it and stealing money off other trainers who lost. That sort of stuff.

It was a regular happening, apparently.

The back of Mitsuko's mind already informed her that she was bound to go insane and kill thousands of people and pokemon in the coming years, and she didn't doubt it one bit.

That sort of stuff happened when one spent the next twenty or so years walking around, training, fighting, creating rivalries as such and no longer had a social life.

Of course, she had a lot of time to think about it, before it happened.

She suppressed a sigh; the insanity had already begun. What the hell was she on about?

Sadly, no one within her vicinity had an answer to that question.

---

"Made it!" proclaimed an incredibly happy (albeit scary) Mitsuko as she slammed on the brakes upon entering Cherrygrove City. Needless to say, as much as she wanted to, riding a bicycle at deadly speeds in a crowded city was the last thing she wanted to be chased by the police for.

Bouncing off it, she was about to go off and see what the stores had to offer, but, as one would have it, a crazy old man grabbed her arm. Her natural reaction to such contact, of course, was to hit him over the head with her incredibly heavy backpack.

Then her conscience had to kick in and she had to feel sorry for the guy. The guilt, of course, had her sit there and wait for him to recover.

She did stay a good few metres away from him, of course. Just out of grabbing distance. One could never tell what crazy strangers ranging from all ages were thinking. Their minds were indecipherable.

"So, you're still alive then?" she asked, "How many fingers am I holding up?"

Mitsuko didn't even bother to hold up her hand as the old man stared at her, clearly thinking her insane… or at least very disturbed. He didn't often get a bag to the head when talking to new trainers. And they came by so often.

"I am fine, young trainer. You just surprised me, is all."

"How else was I supposed to react?" huffed the child, frowning at him. "Anyway, are you one of those beggars that need money and sit there and look sad for yourself so that other people pity you as soon as they enter this place?"

This particular speculation received another weird look. "I am a guide for new pokemon trainers. Is there something wrong with that?"

She crossed her arms, ignoring the look, "So you charge them?" Well, at least she could assume these people had jobs to make money other than going around and screaming at other trainers to battle.

"No," he replied patiently, although it sounded get generic, "These cities are large and most need some guidance when they start."

A smile, also quite generic, "Well, thanks for your concern, but I'm fine. I _did_ grow up in Blackthorn, and that's the hotspot for trouble." When she got a confused look, she elaborated, "You know, gangs, fights, burnings of effigies, theft to the largest possible degree. I think only the Gym's been left unscathed because of the dragon pokemon flying around.

"Oh, it's not bad, once you've installed the tripwires and security, alongside weapons at hand and the occasional reminder for kids not to go out after dark." Mistuko added helpfully, as the old man began to look a little uncomfortable, "So I'm sure I'll be fine."

Satisfied that he was about to go off and start stalking her, she left him to mull over the awful truth of Blackthorn City.

Of course, being the child she was, it was very likely she was exaggerating.

…

Just a little, anyway.

---

Having obtained a Sentret doll at one of the stores, Mitsuko was more than happy as she made her way to the pokemon center. As far as she knew, the rest of the day consisted of relaxing, having something to eat, calling her mother and dealing with the loud 'support' given to the cause, and then sleeping for a couple of hours on an actual bed.

Not only that, but she wouldn't have to be paranoid about pokemon coming to steal her stuff and gnawing at her tent.

The nurse in charge was happy enough to provide a single room, but as Mitsuko reach for the keys, a person in a lab coat and thick-rimmed glasses stepped towards her quickly, followed closely by an older man in a similar lab coat.

Mitsuko was beginning to wonder if she had some sort of 'stranger' radar that drew them to her. Well… at least they weren't as bad as some of the shady individuals back at Blackthorn.

"Mitsuko, right? Received your first pokemon about four days ago?" asked the one with glasses.

She resisted the urge to roll her eyes, throw her bag at him and run off simultaneously, "Er… yes, that would be me. Is something wrong?" Maybe she was being charged, and no one had ever mentioned that beginning pokemon training cost a lot of money.

"Ah, that is…" began Mr Thick-Rimmed Glasses, but the Grey-Haired one but past him and took an extra step forward for good measure.

"You left abruptly, and we had no means of contacting you on your pokegear," he explained simply, and held forth something that was rectangular and red. Mitsuko stared at it, not comprehending. "It's a pokedex. Every trainer has one, and they second as identification of the trainer themselves. Pokemon thieves are everywhere, you know."

"Okay…" she accepted the odd plastic thing and pocketed it, while a couple of pokeballs were shoved in her direction by the assistant (she assumed).

"So they give you a starter pokemon, a pokedex and extra pokeballs," Mitsuko rattled off dully, "do they include a 'how to' guide for new and confused trainers as well?"

The assistant did a double-check of his lab coat and shrugged, "We seem to be out of those at the moment."

Mitsuko resisted the urge to hit him over the head once more.

Grey-Headed one (who then identified himself as Oak, in which case the black-haired girl was forced to hold back a comment on such a last name), then commented in a matter-of-fact-tone, "You took your time to get here. We've been waiting for the past two days. Did you lose your way or something?"

"Oh… yeah, of course," she pulled out her pokegear and jabbed at it, calling her mother. Anything to get them to understand she didn't want to speak to them anymore. "Hi, mum. How's it been?"

"_You're alive! You should have seen Taro against the gym leader! It was so sad!" _sobbed her mother.

Uh-huh.

The assistant coughed nervously, and held out a slip of paper, "Well, this is Professor Elm's number. We'll be going, I suppose."

She nodded, only half-paying attention to her mother's rants and they left. Retreating to her room, she cut across her mother by the effective means of screaming. At least it would get her attention.

"_Yes, Mitsuko, dear?"_

"Oh, I was just wondering if I could talk to Taro, that's all."

"_Of course."_

As soon as he was on, Mistuko grated out, "How. The. Hell. Do. You. Deal. With. The. Strangers."

"_Oh, that?"_ he sounded quite happy, despite the pounding he'd received at the gym._ "You get used to it, I suppose."_

Mitsuko gave a resigned sigh and flopped back on the bed. "Great. Just… great."

---

And… finally another chapter done. And it's odd. I don't know, but I believe my writing's getting worse o.O Why, I do not know. I suppose the problem lies in the fact I really need dialogue to get things moving, but this was… just a little too weird, even for me. And it's supposed to be _funny_. Is it really funny, or is my odd sense of humor making it worse?

And we see Mitsu's violent side once more XD A plus, hopefully?

Had to fill in some holes I just realised I had (aka her pokedex's non-existence) and now I can plod on some more. Cherrygove and the route to Violet City don't hold much, as far as I know, so the next chapter should mention the next week (or two, depending) briefly before cutting right back to the chase.

On the bright side, that also means new characters I'm sure everyone will come to love… or hate. They'll be a great influence on our cynical ten-year-old, trust me. (**and the rating will probably go up due to language… that's it, really. Everyone okay with that? You have been warned now.**)

Thanks for reading, really. And the comments. And support. Surprised that anyone reads this, really :). Hopefully the next chapter will be better XD (sadly, no promise that it will come out any faster. This one has been sitting in my USB for a while now...)

(And no, we will never see that guy Mitsuko nearly ran over in the beginning of this chapter. He's a stranger, we no longer have to think about him XD Then again…)

marthawolfer: Mm… who knows when she'll finally kill someone. By accident! Accident, I mean… okay, maybe not XD Pokegears are probably created to endure hardships, this one more than most ;) Thanks for the review.

Tomoyo Kinomoto: lol, thanks for the comments XD It's nice to see people actually enjoying my weird-way-of-ranting-why-10-year-olds-shouldn't-be-out-at-such-a-young-age :) Mitsuko would probably question Ash's intelligence as well if they meet XD It'd be all-out fun for her.


End file.
